


Sometimes It Takes a Stranger to Show You the Truth

by bluemadridista



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 21:44:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1279921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemadridista/pseuds/bluemadridista
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes a chance encounter with two random fangirls to get Cesc and Gerard to admit their feelings for one another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes It Takes a Stranger to Show You the Truth

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, but the idea.  
> This is my first time writing with OFCs in a slash fic, so... it's a bit different than my other stuff. I would love to know what you all think of it!

Elisabeth and her friend, Sophie, had come to Barcelona from London to see their favorite team play. After watching the team triumph over a lesser side, they went to a local club to celebrate. Luckily they were in plain clothes – not their Barcelona garb – when they met Gerard and Cesc at the club, and they decided to feign obliviousness. Conversation would be much easier if the guys didn’t feel like they were fangirling over them. They spoke as a group at first, but quickly went their own ways. Sophie was drawn to the tall, handsome Catalan while Elisabeth stuck to the small, adorable one. Elisabeth and Cesc stayed at the bar, talking all night while the other duo hit the dance floor. They did a lot of dancing, a little talking.

With his friend gone to dance, Cesc attempted to flirt with Elisabeth, using all the lame lines he had picked up from cheesy movies. Elisabeth laughed him off. “Sorry. I don’t usually pick up girls in bars. I don’t usually pick up girls… at all.”

Elisabeth shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. “No, no… it’s okay. I, it’s okay.” Elisabeth had always known Cesc was gay for Gerard. When they noticed the two of them, Gerard was making some joke about Cesc being gay. He hadn’t meant it in a malicious way, she could tell that, but still it had seemed to upset Cesc. Gerard noticing Sophie was the only thing that saved him.

“It’s not…” Cesc hung his head. “Truth is… I…” Cesc lowered his voice to a whisper. “Truth is… I, I might be… be… gay.”

Elisabeth’s eyes flicked up and widened against her will. She scolded herself silently, but her mind was still screaming, “I KNEW IT!!”

And that started the huge outpouring of feelings, the hour-long talk. Cesc wasn’t sure why he felt he could open up to Elisabeth, but still things kept falling from his mouth.

After an hour of talking about his feelings for Gerard, he finally apologized.  “Sorry… this is not your problem.” Cesc frowned at his lap.

“It’s not your ‘problem’ either. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“There is if I’m in love with my _straight_ best friend.”

“Maybe he’s not as straight as you think… I’ve seen…” Elisabeth cut short again when she started to blurt something about their gay celebrations.

“Seen what?” Cesc had a suspicious look in his eye.

“Seen… stuff like this happen. You know, I’ve seen friends think the other isn’t interested and then, what do you know? They are!” Elisabeth sighed and sipped her drink. She was afraid of slipping up and blowing their cover.

Cesc nodded slowly and his face softened. He had seen that too. It was a popular theme in film, after all, but it was always a pair of heterosexual friends, never gay ones.

“You shouldn’t worry so much,” Elisabeth placed her hand gently over his.

Gerard danced with Sophie, but kept stealing glances at the bar where Cesc was sitting with her friend, Elisabeth. “Looks like my friend and your friend are getting along pretty well. I wouldn’t be surprised if they abandoned us to go… ‘get to know each other better.’” Gerard smirked.

Sophie knew her friend well, and she knew what it looked like when she was flirting, and when she was consoling. The way she gently touched his hand and his arm. She had a pretty good idea that they were discussing Cesc’s feelings for someone, but it sure wasn’t her. It had been painfully obvious since they met them at the bar that Cesc had it bad for Gerard. She shook her head. “I think your friend is interested in someone else.”

Gerard stopped dancing, not that he had been doing that very well in the first place. “Yeah…” he sighed. “I know he does.”

“You… you know he’s attracted to you?” Sophie asked. She was shocked. She had taken Gerard for oblivious.

Gerard nodded, and ran his fingers through his hair. “We’ve been friends since we were kids. We… I mean, we did the things that all kids did. We practiced…” Gerard glanced around to be sure no one was listening in on their conversation. When he determined that it was safe, he continued speaking. “We practiced kissing and, you know, stuff… together, but I don’t know. I kind of… outgrew it?” Gerard spoke like he was unsure of himself, but Sophie could not tell if he was unsure of the wording he used or of his feelings. She stayed silent, waiting for him to proceed. “Cesc, he… he, I guess, he thought it was more than it was. He didn’t think it was just kid stuff. He thought… he thought we would grow up and be… I don’t know… together. But… I, we… that can’t happen.”

“Why not?” Sophie had forgotten that she was supposed to pretend to know nothing of Cesc and Gerard’s fame. She spoke from a place of true confusion. If these two loved each other, they should be allowed to be together, no matter what any football association had to say about it.

“Because we… well,  just, no one would understand, you know? We’re supposed to be straight. I… I am. Cesc, he… he is too. He’s just confused.”

“He tells me I’m just confused,” Cesc explained. He and Elisabeth had moved to a booth table. The table was opposite the one he had shared with Gerard and Puyol earlier. Puyi was the only one that knew about his feelings for Gerard. Unfortunately, he ducked out early. He thought maybe he should have gone with him. At least he wouldn’t be pouring his heart out to some poor girl.  “That is when he’ll even talk about it. Most of the time, he ignores me when I try to bring it up.”

Elisabeth frowned sympathetically. “When does he talk about it? Maybe you should try to get more time like that, if you can.”

“When we’re on the road, we room together. Sometimes he opens up at night when the lights are out, and we’re both so tired we’re barely coherent anymore.” Cesc paused and sipped the beer in front of him. “ It is excruciating to room with him. Being that close to him, watching him walk around in a towel after a shower, sleeping in a bed so close to him, but being expected to keep my distance. We used to sleep in the same bed. When we were younger, we slept in his bed, in my bed, in beds on the road. We kissed, and did all kinds of things together, but now… Now, I’m just expected to forget all that. We’re adults now. It’s time to grow up and be straight.”

Elisabeth almost let all of that go, but she remembered that she was playing clueless. “On the road?” she asked as if she didn’t know a thing.

“Oh, uh, yeah… we… travel for work.” Cesc was not about to get into the famous thing. He didn’t want things to change between him and Elisabeth. She was a good confidant, and he desperately needed one.

“When you talk on the road, do you tell him that you want to be with him?”

“Of course. He says it’s not possible. No one would understand. He’s straight. I’m confused. We should get girlfriends, have babies, be normal. He actually said that to me. He told me we should be _normal_ as if I’m some kind of freak.”

“You’re definitely not that.” Elisabeth placed her hand gently over his. “You’re not.”

“You’re not a bad person for saying those things to him. It’s not, well, that’s not the best word choice – normal. He’s not abnormal for feeling this way, you know?”

“Of course, I know that, but… I don’t know. Everyone, well, a lot of people – the majority! They, they think that straight is normal, and… gay isn’t. My own father thinks that. Cesc’s father too. They… would never understand. They would hate us. I – I can’t take that. I couldn’t handle that.”

“I’m sure your parents would come around.”

“My father is set in his ways, just like his father before him.”

“Gerard, he would want you to be happy. He might be shocked, upset, confused, even angry at first, but he would want you to be happy. If your best friend is what makes you happy, you should go for it. No matter what anyone thinks about it. No matter what you’re making yourself think about it. You know what normal is?”

“What?”

“Falling in love. Being in love with someone who makes you feel good about yourself, who loves you, who makes you happy. All of that is normal. All of that is good.  It doesn’t matter what the person looks like. The person’s gender doesn’t matter. How does Cesc make you feel?”

Gerard stared at the floor. People were dancing all around them. He suddenly felt claustrophobic. “I gotta get out of here,” he said, dashing away from her. Sophie was stunned for a moment, but she quickly raced after him.

She caught him just outside the club in the entryway. It was empty, and she was more than a little thankful for that. “Gerard, are you okay?” she gently placed her hand on his forearm. He had both hands covering his face.

“I… I felt crowded,” he said, lowering his hands.

“That’s anxiety… Calm down. Talk to me. You… you need to face these feelings before they become debilitating.”

“I know that…” He sighed. “Not to mention what it’s doing to Cesc.”

Sophie nodded and stayed quiet for a few moments to give him some time to adjust. “Gerard, how does he make you feel?” Sophie felt like a shrink. She should really look into a new career when she and Elisabeth went home to England.

Gerard stared at the floor again, and muttered, “Better than I have ever felt with anyone else in my entire life.”

“I would give him my entire life,” Cesc gushed. He was near tears, and he covered his face.

Elisabeth slid around the booth and wrapped her arms around him. Cesc fell against her, and started to cry. She consoled him, rubbing his back, and muttered soothing sentiments to him. “It will be okay, Cesc. Somehow.” She had no idea if that would be true, but she wanted it to be. She was about to force Cesc to sit back up, and have a drink to calm himself when Gerard and Sophie approached the table.

“Cesc,” Gerard said, causing his small friend’s head to snap up from Elisabeth’s chest.

Cesc sniffed, and wiped his eyes. “Geri, uh… Yeah, what?”

“We need to talk,” Gerard said, firmly.

“Uh, about… what?”

“Now.” Gerard grabbed his hand and pulled him up from the booth. “Not here.”

Cesc glanced at Elisabeth almost terrified, but he followed Gerard.

“What the hell is that about?” Elisabeth demanded of Sophie. “Did you out us as fangirls?”

“I couldn’t risk someone outing us,” Gerard pushed Cesc into a bathroom, and locked the door behind them.

“Outing… huh?” Cesc only had a few moments to wear a confused frown. Soon, Gerard’s lips were pressed against his and his small body was pinned against the sinks. Cesc squeaked, but clung to Gerard. Gerard had caved like this a couple of times before. He had ravished him for a few beautiful moments only to shove him away, claiming to be confused. Cesc was going to hold onto this time as long as it could possibly last.

Gerard kissed Cesc hard, and deep for nearly two full minutes before he pulled away gasping for air. Cesc gasped right along with him, and squeezed his fists around two sections of Gerard’s shirt. He dreaded what would come next. The inevitable: “This was a mistake. You’re confused. I gotta go.”

When that didn’t come immediately, Cesc’s heart swelled. He stared at Gerard’s eyelids – he had yet to open his eyes. He waited for the kissing to begin again. He hoped beyond hope that it would. That almost never happened.

When Gerard’s mouth began to open, Cesc knew it was over. The harsh words would come soon enough, and he would be left standing in the empty restroom of a night club feeling more rejected than ever. “Don’t…” he pleaded quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. “Don’t say it, please. Just let me leave this time. Please.” Tears poked his eyelids.

Gerard leaned his forehead against Cesc’s. Cesc was startled by the action. This was not something that usually happened. This scenario only had a few variations, and this action occurred in none of them. His mouth hung ajar, but he dared not speak. He had to know what would come next. He hoped Gerard would not get back to the script, and deliver the lines he had begged him not to say. “I love you, Cesc,” Gerard finally whispered.

The tears that had been poking now spilled over Cesc’s cheeks. They had been born tears of sadness, but fell as something like a joyful sadness. “I know,” he whispered. “I love you too. But not like you love me. I love you more than that, beyond that.

“No, you don’t,” Gerard argued. “I love you more than I let you believe. You make me happier than anyone ever has. You’re the only one that actually makes me truly happy. You’re the only one I have ever truly loved.”

“Geri, please don’t say all of this, and then take it all back. Please mean this. Please don’t take it back later. Please don’t say we’re just friends again. I can’t take it.” Cesc wasn’t ashamed to be clinging to him and begging him. His heart was tired of being broken by Gerard’s careless words.

“I won’t. I won’t do that to you anymore.” Gerard held him and kissed his lips softly. “I’m so sorry I ever did that to you.”

Cesc crushed his body against him, holding on so tight. He cried freely against his chest. Gerard held him, kissing his head, and letting him cry.

“Things will be different now, Cescky. I love you. I’m never going to let you forget that now.”

“I never will,” Cesc promised, clinging hard to him.

**Author's Note:**

> I would love some comments on this as it is different than my other fics. I'm curious to know what you all think! Thanks for reading! x


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